Net laundry bags. It’s that simple. But in case you are unaware of these handy laundry tools, let me introduce you to this simple way to wash your swim suit. You can buy them any place that sells things like clothes hangers and ironing boards. I have purchased mine in Walmart and Fred Meyer locally. A couple of mine come from Taiwan, so I’m pretty sure they can be found world wide.
These net bags come in a few sizes and each one has a zipper. The open or loose mesh holds a garment in place, but allows it to have full contact with the water. By using these bags, I can wash my swim suits, and other delicates, in the washing machine. This is both a water and a time saver. We use the mesh bags for:
- items that would be damaged by too much agitation (silks and other fine fabrics)
- clothing at risk for getting twisted or wrapped around other laundry and machine parts (i.e. tights, neck scarves)
- garments that we do not want to put into the dryer – the bag reminds us as we empty the washing machine to set these things aside to avoid shrinkage or damage to elastic fibers (bike shorts, swim suit, bras)
- most dry cleaning or hand wash only things, including wool
During the summer, it is not a big deal to hand rinse just one swim suit. However, during the winter, when I am wearing my long pants and long sleeve shirt suit (or my pseudo wetsuit spiderman suit), it gets to be a lot of water and my hands start to cramp as I try to rinse and squeeze without “wringing.” Even during the summer, if several family members have been swimming, we can run out of places to let the swim suits drip dry.
Putting each swim suit, or piece of swim wear, in its own net bag, then running the washing machine on a cold water rinse cycle (adjusting the water level to the load size) takes care of these issues. A bonus is that the swim suits are spun dry enough that they rarely drip and they dry much faster. I have a portable wooden drying rack that can fit in any out of the way corner to hang things on. I also got a short rack of hooks for Christmas last year that hang over my bathtub.
It is a good idea to un-wad any garment as it is placed in the net bag. Closing the zipper completely is also recommended to keep the garment from working its way out of the bag during movement in the washing machine.
Hopefully, this one simple tip will ease your chore load and decrease your dry cleaning bill. It should also help keep your swim suits clean and ready to be swum in again.
